Privacy Policy

PRIVACY AND ANTI-SPAM CODE FOR OUR DENTAL OFFICE Please refer to Appendix A for a glossary of defined terms. INTRODUCTION The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) came into effect on January 1, 2004, and governs the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information within British Columbia’s private sector, including dental practices. Federally, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), governs the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information. In addition, Canada’s anti-spam legislation came into effect on July 1, 2014. Canada’s anti-spam legislation regulates how businesses and individuals communicate electronically. This Office collects Personal Information about our patients directly from the patient or from the person acting on their behalf. Occasionally, we collect Personal Information about a patient from other sources if we have obtained the patient’s consent to do so or if the law permits. Privacy of Personal Information is an important principle in the provision of quality care to our patients. We understand the importance of protecting your Personal Information. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing your Personal Information responsibly and in accordance with the law. We also try to be as open and transparent as possible about the way we handle your Personal Information. This Office has developed this Privacy and Anti-Spam Code (this “Code”) to provide a general description of our information and communication practices, how to obtain access to your Personal Information, how to amend incorrect information, and how to make a complaint to our Office or the Information and Privacy Commissioner. As the rules governing the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information may change, our practices will evolve and adapt in response to such changes and this Code may be amended from time to time as a result thereof. We ask that you contact our Privacy Officer in the event you have any questions or concerns regarding this Code or its implementation. ANTI-SPAM POLICY OVERVIEW When we communicate with you, we may communicate via electronic means, such as e-mail. We strive to ensure that our Commercial Electronic Messages (“CEMs”) are sent with consent, identifying information and unsubscribe mechanisms. We require all CEMs from our Office to be in compliance with Privacy Laws. If and when we communicate with you using CEMs, you can opt out of receiving such messages by following the “Unsubscribe” link included at the bottom of such messages or by contacting <*> [Revelstoke Dental Centre 111 2nd Street West, Box 2879 Revelstoke, BC V0E 2S0]. Any questions or concerns with respect to CEMs from our Office may be addressed to <*> [Revelstoke Dental Centre 111 2nd Street West, Box 2879 Revelstoke, BC V0E 2S0]. In the event that our Office inadvertently sends out a CEM without consent, we commit to investigating every such instance and assisting the employee(s) or manager(s) involved with renewing their understanding and awareness of our compliance responsibilities. PERSONAL INFORMATION HANDLING PRINCIPLES Accountability Accountability for this Office’s compliance with Privacy Laws rests with the designated Privacy Officer even though others in the Office may be responsible for the day-to-day collection and processing of Personal Information. Our staff are briefed on the importance of privacy and receive training on the handling of your Personal Information. Our Office is comprised of many persons working together to ensure that our patients and clients receive proper care. We take this opportunity to describe the structure of our Office so that you understand who may be handling your Personal Information and in what manner. At our Office, professional dental services are performed by Service Providers. All dentists performing professional services at the Office are Members of the College. All institutional health care services performed in the Office are provided by our Affiliate. We have appointed our Affiliate as our delegated representative pursuant to section 4(4) of PIPA To facilitate the ability of our Affiliate to carry out its responsibilities to us, your Personal Information may be disclosed to, used by, and collected by our Affiliate. Your Personal Information may also be disclosed to, used by or collected by the following independent third parties for the purposes as described below: - our third party contractors (who may be located outside Canada) for purposes related to supporting our Office’s business (e.g., call centre activities, technical solutions and support), in which case we will require such third parties to agree to treat your Personal Information in accordance with this Code; - third parties in connection with a sale, assignment, merger, amalgamation, plan of arrangement or other transfer of the business of our Office or Affiliate, (including but not limited to all pre-sale, assignment, merger, amalgamation, plan of arrangement or transfer activities and all transaction negotiations and due diligence activities) to which the information relates, in which case we will require any such buyer, assignee, successor party, transferee or other party related to the transaction to agree to treat the information in accordance with this Privacy Statement; and - any governmental, administrative, judicial or regulatory authority for the purpose of co-operating in proceedings, inquiries and investigations requested by such authorities or to comply with any legal or regulatory requirements or to protect our rights, property or interests, including to enforce this Code. In addition, aggregated and anonymized information, which does not allow you to be personally identified to third parties, may be disclosed to, used by or collected by third parties. All actions by our Affiliate in respect of your Personal Information shall be in compliance with this Code and Privacy Legislation. By providing your Personal Information to this Office or by using our services, you are consenting to its use by us, the third parties listed above, the Service Providers and our Affiliate, as set out in this Code. We have permitted our Affiliate to collect, use or, disclose, retain, or dispose of our patients’ Personal Information which we ourselves may collect, use, disclose, retain, or dispose of provided that its actions are not contrary to the limits imposed by us, Privacy Laws, or such other applicable law. We have informed our Affiliate of its duties under the Legislation. This Office is responsible for information in our possession or custody, including information that has been transferred to a third party for processing. Our Office will implement policies and practices to give effect to the principles regarding the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information, including: - implementing policies to protect Personal Information; - training staff about this Code and our practices; - establishing procedures to receive and respond to complaints and inquiries regarding Personal Information; and - developing information to explain this Code and privacy procedures. Identifying Purposes for Collecting Information The purposes for which personal information is collected in this Office will be identified before or at the time the information is collected. When this Office collects Personal Information we will only collect Personal Information necessary for the purpose we identify to you before or at the time of collection. This Office collects Personal Information only for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances to fulfill the purposes that are disclosed by our Office and that are permitted under applicable Privacy Laws, including: - to provide health services; - to determine or verify the eligibility of an individual to receive health services; - to conduct investigations, discipline proceedings, practice reviews or inspections relating to the members of a health profession or health discipline; - to deliver safe and efficient patient care; - to identify and to ensure continuous high quality service; - to assess your health needs; - to advise you of treatment options; - to enable us to contact you; - to provide health care; - to establish and maintain communication with you, including to distribute health care information and to book and confirm appointments; - to offer and provide treatment, care and services in relationship to the oral and maxillofacial complex and dental care generally; - to communicate with other treating health care providers, including specialists and general dentists, who are the referring dentists and/or peripheral dentists; - for teaching and demonstrating purposes on an anonymous basis; - to allow us to efficiently follow-up for treatment, care and billing; - to complete and submit dental and health services claims for third party adjudication and payment; - to comply with legal and regulatory requirements; - to comply with agreements/undertakings entered into voluntarily by this Office or a Service Provider with the College for regulatory and monitoring purposes; - to permit potential purchasers, practice brokers or advisors to evaluate this Office, including an audit, on a confidential basis; - to provide for health services provider education; - to deliver your charts and records to insurance carriers to enable them to assess liability and quantify damages; - to conduct research or perform data matching or other services to facilitate another person’s research in certain instances outlined in the PIPA; - to contact you regarding surveys relating to our business and services; - to manage patient and clients’ accounts, including invoicing, processing credit card payments and collecting unpaid accounts; - to communicate with insurance companies and to otherwise process requests by you; - for internal management purposes, including planning, resource allocation, policy development, quality improvement, monitoring, audit, evaluation, reporting, obtaining or processing payment for health services and human resource management; and - to comply generally with Privacy Laws and all other applicable regulatory requirements. When Personal Information has been collected and is to be used or disclosed for a purpose not previously identified, the new purpose will be identified prior to its use or disclosure. Your consent will be obtained before the Personal Information will be used or disclosed for any such new purpose. When you sign the Patient Consent Form, you will be deemed to understand and accept this Office’s collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information for the specified purposes, in each case subject to this Code and Privacy Laws. Certain instances where our Office may collect Personal Information without your Consent are outlined in the Privacy Laws. Consent This Office requires either express consent or implied consent from our patients before we may collect, use, or disclose personal health information. When we collect, use, and disclose your personal health information for health care purposes, the legislation generally permits us to rely upon your implicit consent. However, if you are not deemed to consent to the collection, use or disclosure of Personal Information under Privacy Laws, we may be required to obtain your express consent. Privacy Laws also provides instances where we may collect, use, or disclose your personal health information without consent. Implied consent enables us to conclude from surrounding circumstances that a patient has agreed to the collection, use, or disclosure of Personal Information. Consent is required when we are collecting, using or disclosing your Personal Information. In order for the principles of Consent to be satisfied, our Office will disclose to you verbally or in writing the purposes for the collection of the Personal Information. Your consent for the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information may be given in a number of ways, such as: - signed medical history form; - e-mail; - signed introductory questionnaire; - taken verbally over the telephone and then charted; or - written correspondence. You may withdraw your consent upon reasonable notice to our Office. For minors who are incapable of giving or refusing consent, a lawful guardian may consent to the collection, use or disclosure of the minor’s Personal Information. When our Office needs consent for the collection, use or disclosure of Personal Information about a minor, we may either obtain it from that minor if capable, or the lawful guardian if the minor is incapable of giving consent. Google Analytics We use Google Analytics’ 3rd-party audience data such as age, gender, and interests to better understanding the behaviour of our customers and work with companies that collect information about your online activities to provide advertising targeted to suit your interests and preferences. For example, you may see certain ads on this website or other websites because we contract with Google and other similar companies to target our ads based on information we or they have collected, including information that was collected through automated means (such as cookies and web beacons). These companies also use automated technologies to collect information when you click on our ads, which helps track and manage the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the automated collection of information by third-party ad networks for the purpose of delivering advertisements tailored to your interests, by visiting the consumer opt-out page for the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioural Advertising at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ and edit or opt-out your Google Display Network ads’ preferences at http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/. Remarketing We use Remarketing to advertise our practice across the Internet. Remarketing will display ads to you based on what parts of our website you have viewed by placing a cookie on your web browser. This cookie does not in any way identify you or give access to your computer or mobile device. The cookie is used to indicate to other websites that “This person visited a particular page, so show them ads relating to that page.” Remarketing allows us to tailor our marketing to better suit your needs and only display ads that are relevant to you. If you do not wish to see ads from us, you can opt out in several ways: 1. Opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ads Settings. 2. Opt out of a third-party vendor’s use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page. 3. Opt out information for Facebook ads visit: https://www.facebook.com/help/568137493302217 Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention Personal Information shall not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which the information is collected, except with your Consent, or as permitted by law. Our Office may disclose certain Personal Information in accordance with Privacy Laws. This Office and our Affiliates may perform activities in other provinces and territories and outside of Canada through third party agents. You acknowledge and agree that, as a result, your Personal Information may be transferred to, processed, used, stored or accessed in other provinces and territories and in countries and may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions. For example, Personal Information may be disclosed in response to valid demands or requests from government authorities, courts, or law enforcement in other countries. We will use contractual or other means to provide a comparable level of protection while the information is being accessed and/or processed by any such third party. However, contractual or other measures we may use to protect your Personal Information are subject to the legal requirements of foreign jurisdictions where your Personal Information may be transferred, processed, use, stored or accessed. Our Office keeps Personal Information only as long as necessary to satisfy the purposes for which it was collected, however, some Personal Information is kept for a number of years to comply with legal requirements. Our Office has protocols in place for the retention of Personal Information in accordance with applicable law and with the College’s dental recordkeeping guidelines. In destroying Personal Information, our Office has developed guidelines to ensure its secure destruction in accordance with applicable law and the College’s dental recordkeeping guidelines. As discussed in this Code, Personal Information may be transferred and stored outside of Canada. We encourage you to contact the Privacy Officer should you require further information. Accuracy of Personal Information This Office endeavours to ensure that your Personal Information is as accurate, complete, and as up-to-date as necessary for the purposes that it is to be used. The extent to which your Personal Information is accurate, complete and up-to-date will depend upon the use of the Personal Information, while at all times taking into account the interest of our patients. Your Personal Information needs to be sufficiently accurate, complete and up-to-date to minimize the possibility that inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date Personal Information is used to make a decision about you as our patient. If your Personal Information changes, or if you believe the Personal Information maintained by our Office is inaccurate, we ask that you contact our Office to have the information updated or corrected. Safeguards for Personal Information Our Office staff are aware of the importance of maintaining the security and confidentiality of your Personal Information and we have taken reasonable measures to safeguard your Personal Information. These safeguards are in place to protect your Personal Information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. We use reasonable measures to ensure your Personal Information is protected, whether recorded on paper or electronically, and care is used in its retention and destruction with the goal of preventing unauthorized access while in our care and control. Openness about Privacy Our Office will make readily available to you specific information about our Office policies and practices relating to the management of Personal Information. This information includes: - the individuals at this Office and the Privacy Officer to whom you can direct any questions or complaints regarding your Personal Information; - a copy of our Patient Consent Form that explains how this Office collects, uses and discloses your Personal Information; and - this Code. Patient Access to Personal Information You have a right of access to your Personal Information, subject to specific and limited exceptions, and a right of correction or accurate amendment of your Personal Information. Upon written request and with reasonable notice, you shall be informed of the existence, use and disclosure of your Personal Information, and shall be given access to it, subject to certain legal exceptions Upon written request and with reasonable notice, our Office shall provide you with an accounting of how your Personal Information has been used. In providing this information, we will attempt to be as specific as possible. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period of time, and at minimal or no cost to you. The request for information will be provided or made available in a form that is generally understandable. You are free to challenge the accuracy and completeness of your Personal Information and seek to have it altered, amended, or changed for accuracy and completeness. When a challenge is not resolved to your satisfaction, we will record the substance of the unresolved challenge accordingly. When appropriate, the existence of the unresolved challenge shall be transmitted to third parties having access to the Personal Information in question. This disclosure may be appropriate where a dentist has been challenged about a change to a service date or services rendered under consideration for insurance benefits. Our Office is not required to disclose Personal Information as outlined in certain instances in Privacy Laws. Challenging Compliance You shall be able to challenge compliance with these principles with the Privacy Officer who is accountable within the Office for compliance with the Privacy Laws. Our Office has in place procedures to receive and respond to your complaints or inquiries. The procedures are easily accessible and simple to use. Our Office has an obligation to inform our patients who make inquiries about how to access the privacy complaint process in our Office, and about how to access that process. The Privacy Officer will investigate each and every complaint made to the Office in writing. If a complaint is found to be justified, the Privacy Officer will take appropriate measures, including, if necessary, amending any office policies and practices. Updating this Privacy and Anti-Spam Code Any changes to our privacy standards and information handling practices will be reflected in this Code in a timely manner. Our Office reserves the right to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Code at any time. Please check this page periodically for any modifications. To determine when this Code was last updated, please refer to the modification date at the bottom of this Code. By providing Personal Information to this Office and/or by using our services after changes to this Code have been made, you accept and consent to those changes. How to Contact Us Our Privacy Officer is our Affiliate. For more information about our privacy protection or communication practices, or to raise a concern you have with our practices, contact our Affiliate at: 181 Bay Street, Suite #2600 Toronto, Ontario M5J 2T3 Attention: Julian Perez, Chief Privacy Officer You have the right to complain to the Commissioner if you think we have violated your rights. The Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia can be reached at: Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia PO Box 9038 Stn. Prov. Govt. Victoria B.C. V8W 9A4 info@oipc.bc.ca Last revised: April 2019 APPENDIX –A DEFINITIONS Affiliate – – means Dentalcorp Health Services ULC and/or an affiliate or agent thereof, which provides institutional health care services, including dental laboratory, radiological and other diagnostic services, and the operation of dental operatories and dental equipment. Collection – The act of gathering, acquiring, receiving or obtaining personal information from any source, including third party sources by any means. College – College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia. Commercial Electronic Message or CEM –is a message sent directly to an electronic address (such as an email address, a phone number, an instant messaging account, or social media account) with the purpose, or one of its purposes, of encouraging participation in a commercial activity. Commissioner – The Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, or the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, if applicable. Consent – A voluntary agreement with what is being done or is being proposed to be done. Consent can either be express or implied. Express consent may be given explicitly, either orally or in writing. Disclosure – Making Personal Information available to any other person or body. Member – A member of the College and includes a health professional corporation registered with the College to practice dentistry in British Columbia. Office – The dental office operated by Dr. Larry Podolsky Dental Corporation which provides professional dental services comprising of diagnosis, the interpretation of x-ray radiographs produced by the Affiliate, treatment planning and intra-oral professional services at [Revelstoke Dental Centre 111 2nd Street West, Box 2879 Revelstoke, BC V0E 2S0]. Patient – An individual about whom our Office collects Personal Information in order to carry out prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment, including controlled acts. Personal Information – means information about an identifiable individual and includes employee personal information but does not include contact information or work product information. Contact information refers to information that enables an individual at a place of business to be contacted, such as the position, business telephone number and business address of the individual. Privacy Officer – means the contact person designated in this Privacy and Anti-Spam Code as the agent of our Office authorized on our behalf to, among other things, facilitate our compliance with the Privacy Laws. Privacy Laws – All applicable laws governing the collection, use, storage or disclosure of personal information, including: the Dentists Act, Health Professions Act, By-laws of the College; the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (if applicable), An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act (CASL), and regulations made under these Acts. Service Providers – means dentists and dental professional corporations providing professional services at the Office in conjunction with Dr. Larry Podolsky Dental Corporation and the Affiliate.

Dental Tips

We highly recommend an at-home oral hygiene that includes brushing twice and flossing once, daily.